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Campus Overview and Partnerships

“The major job was getting people to understand that they had something within their power that they could use, and it could only be used if they understood what was happening and how group action could counter violence...”

— Ella Jo Baker, campus namesake

Baker College Prep (BCP) is one of the Noble Network of Charter Schools’ newest campuses that opened in August 2013 with its founding class of 9th graders. BCP’s mission is to develop students to become civic-minded college graduates who solve problems and serve as change agents for their community.

Our school is named after Ella Baker, who inspired and guided emerging leaders in the civil rights Freedom Movement. She played a key role in some of the most influential organizations of the time, including the NAACP, Martin Luther King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Like Ella Baker, BCP seeks to spark change by unlocking the potential of every student so they can shape their future and their community.

In addition to receiving a rigorous college-preparatory education, students will have the opportunity to serve their community and practice activism through the civics task force project. Each semester, students will be placed in a task force group and they will be required to research and propose a solution to an important issue within their community. In January and June, the task force groups will publicly share their work and encourage community members to partner with them in implementing their plans for change.

The name for our campus was chosen in collaboration with the group of generous individuals who contributed the start-up funding needed to launch our campus. They choose Ella Jo Baker as the namesake for the campus in the hope that her example would inspire the future civic leaders we aim to develop among our students. Baker College Prep is incredibly grateful to David Weinberg and Grace Newton, Christine Jacobek, Dennis and Barbara Kessler, Nancy and Andrew Mills, Richard and Linda Morris and Vincent Foglia for their support and ongoing commitment to the success of our students.